Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Killers: Sam’s TownSweet onion the size of your fist or biggerBox of baby or cut-up portobello mushroomsBag of baby spinachBox of angel hair pasta (I like Barilla because the box is pretty)Pint of whipping creamOlive oil1 pound of uncooked shrimpA small block of really good Parmesan cheese, don’t skimp here!Whatever leftover white wine is lying on the bottom shelf of your fridge since you only know one person who drinks white and they’re out of town and by the time you have another party it will be – does wine get stale?Large potLarge sauté pan with lid – not just a frying pan, because the deeper sides of a sauté pan will later be helpfulSharp knifePasta drainer Cheese graterSlotted pasta scooping spoonSauté-ing implement of choice – I use whatever flattish utensil is in the big jar on the counter

Put on The Killers and wash your hands. I actually plugged my little ipod into the dock of one of those dock-your-ipod boomboxes and hit shuffle, but while I was peeling the shrimp, songs kept playing that reminded me of Lover (Vindicated, Suerte, Scusami, Jesus Christ why did we listen to so much music?) and it was a pain in the ass to keep washing my hands to press skip. So just go with The Killers. It’ll still remind me of Lover but you probably don’t have the same associations.

Fill the pot with water and put it on to boil.

Put the sauté pan on low heat and pour in a little olive oil.

Cut the onion in half and then cut it up in thin wedges. Break up the pieces and throw them into the sauté pan. Leave them alone and don’t stir – I’ll tell you when!

Start peeling the shrimp, unless you were smarter than me and bought them already peeled. Muse how there’s nothing like the texture of the female parts, except maybe a fresh fig, and that’s really more of a metaphor.

When the onion sounds “sizzle-y”, give it one quick stir, just to change sides.

Sing along to “When everybody else refrained, My Uncle Johnny did cocaine,” and speculate on whether it would in fact take away your pain, and if so, how much it would actually cost to stay high until the end of the month when maybe you wouldn’t care anymore. Imagine what you’d wear at Studio 54. It probably involves lamé.

Keep peeling shrimp. Call your significant other to help, which will be a lovely shared moment and get your mind off the cocaine. Imagine them at Studio 54, and do a little disco together in the kitchen. Then stir the onions again.

When the water boils, throw in the angel hair pasta and time it for one song or four minutes.

When the onions are brown around the edges, add the mushrooms, wait a minute, and stir.

Take the pasta out of the water with the pasta spoon and drop it into the drainer, leaving the pasta water in the pot. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, like not constantly checking Myspace to find out when you get moved out of the number one friend slot, but trust me, it will pay off with a similar lack of heartache. If you can manage it. Which I can with the pasta but the Myspace thing already stung me in the lip.

Add a little tiny bit of olive oil to the pasta and stir it around to keep it from getting sticky. Then add some hot water to the pasta water and put it back on the heat – voila! You’ve saved waiting for that sucker to boil from nothing again. Insert your choice of metaphor here.

Give the onions and mushrooms another stir, then add the whole bag of spinach on top. Pour in about a cup of wine and put the lid on the sauté pan.

Toss the shrimp into the boiling water for as long as it takes to pour something to drink and set the table for two.

Toss the pasta into the sauté pan and mix it all around. Drain the shrimp in the pasta drainer (you can dump the water this time).

Pour the whipping cream over the pasta-veg mix and salt and pepper to taste. Add the shrimp and ménage everything.

Dish out pasta. Top each serving with a generous grating of Parmesan. See if you can stay focused on the person you’re with for the duration of dinner. Bon attention!

3 comments:

it sucks when even the music gets hijacked. girl, i have more music on my computer than i even know what to do with (most of it paid for because i like having the liner notes and supporting the musicians, thank you!) and i have an i-NEVER-download-free-music-from -the-internet piracy credit. so lets meet each other when you're in Northern Town In This State, we'll have a lovely day or two and i will fill your hard drive with the likes of babylon circus, gogol bordello and other music that will make you smile. shall we?

big love, bg

ps- the idea of the girl who gets daring by adding orangina to her fresh-squeezed juice putting drugs up her nose made me snort! i'm not certain, but i don't think it actually takes away pain, i think it just prioritizes a more insistent jones. and (though some would disagree) a more expensive one.

pps- friends don't let friends wear lame, except under very specific circumstances. i don't know if i can, in good conscience, not speak up about that one too. hmm. maybe you should call me and i'll talk you off that particular ledge. *grin*